She Goes On
by petnurser
Summary: Love and sadness. Major caracter deaths. Rated for theme.


A/N: I seem to enjoy killing the Doctor off. Nothing personal, just examining the possibilities of my morose mind.

Anyway, this is inspired by the Crowded House song "She Goes On" off the CD _Woodface._

Disclaimer: I do not own _Doctor Who_, its characters or the actors that portray them

"She Goes On"

"Come with me, Jack." He said, guiding his friend down one of the many corridors in the TARDIS. The friends ended their walk in a garden. There were trees, flowers, applegrass and the largest arbor of roses that Jack had ever seen in all his many years. Under the arbor lie a marble plaque:

In Memory

Rose Marion Tyler-Sigma

Bad Wolf

Mother

Bonded One

Friend

1987-2182

"There used to be a bench there. She sat here often. Singing, playing with the children. We would sit here together after they were asleep and just…… be. I miss her, Jack."

"I know, Doctor." Jack said tenderly. "How did she die?" After 112 years, he still didn't know how pointless Rose's death was.

The Doctor took a deep breath and began. "We were in New York, 2004. We went to go see _The Lion King_. It was the 175th anniversary of our bonding. The TARDIS was in Central Park and we were walking home after the show. The kids were scattered by then, all on their own. It was stupid and random, Jack. Rose was gunned down in the street by a drive-by shooter. Bad Wolf protected her from the ravages of time but couldn't protect her from a stray bullet. I carried her to the TARDIS and she died in my arms. She died in my arms on the console room floor. She was as beautiful as the day I met her. I later found her murderers and took care of them. Empty revenge, really. I couldn't bring her back to me, to her children." Tears were freely flowing from both men, feeling a loss that neither could ever replace.

"I'm sorry," was all Jack could say.

"She goes on. Hope's eyes. Little Jack's smile. Roma's laugh. She lives on through our memories, our children." The Doctor said as he ran his hand through his ginger hair and closed his hazel eyes against another threat of tears. Jack was concerned to find that some of the Doctor's hair had remained entwined in the Doctor's fingers when he set down his hand. "She's buried here, you know. TARDIS reduced her to her basic elements and she is buried beneath the marker. I can almost imagine that she is still here."

"After 175 years together, I can believe it." Jack said.

The Doctor was very weary; he felt drained. "I'm number 13. I am my last regeneration. After I'm gone, Jack, the TARDIS is yours. She is already programmed to respond to you when I have no more life signs."

Jack was alarmed at the Doctor's weakness and overwhelmed by his generosity. I don't know what to say, Doc."

"Don't say anything. Just make sure Rose gets a proper burial on Earth. Bury me with her. Bad Wolf and The Oncoming Storm, together forever."

"Doctor, don't talk like that." Jack was suddenly afraid for his friend.

"It's inevitable. I'm dying. Radiation poisoning from my last trip. I could reverse it, but I don't want to. The children are coming to see me before I go. I don't want them to see me die, but I don't want to be alone."

"You won't, I promise. When?"

"A few days. Radiation is unpredictable, at best. I have the symptoms; weakness, my hair is falling out, I haven't eaten in four days. Nothing stays down. Two, three days, tops."

"Where do you want to be?" Jack was having a hard time talking. His grief was overwhelming.

"Parked outside the Powell Estates. I still feel close to her there.'

"Are you in pain, Doc?"

"No, but there are pain meds in the med lab. Just don't use anything sedating."

"OK."

They were silent for a while, simply enjoying their long friendship.

Jack broke the companionable silence first. "Doctor, you once offered to 'fix' me so I could die."

"Yes."

"Can you?"

"After my children leave. But, are you sure, Jack? You could just drop dead or you could live out your life from 38 years old and die an old man or you could get shot……." The old rambler was back.

"I would rather die than live forever without my brother. These years without my sister have been hard enough." Jack said.

The Doctor took this in and smiled as they settled back into their silence.

Before long, the Time Lord fell asleep. Captain Jack Harkness gathered the Doctor into his arms and carried him to the med bay. There he could monitor the Doctor's vital signs and pain levels. Jack was upset to learn how light his friend had become as the Doctor rested peacefully in Jack's arms.

Over the next day, the Doctor's children came to say goodbye to their father.

Roma came first, the baby of the family at 155 years old. Then Little Jack, then Hope. There were hugs and tears, stories and laughter. All of them spoke of Rose with such love that it was painful for Jack to watch.

When all the goodbyes were said, Rose and the Doctor's children left the TARDIS, acutely aware that they were not to see their father again.

After the Doctor rested for a while, he made good on his promise to "fix" Jack which would allow him to die.

When the Doctor's end came, Jack was there for him. He held the Doctor's hand, he kissed away the Doctor's tears. He held him close as he took his last breath.

Within minutes of his death, the Doctor's body became a fine, sparkly powder; his basic elements.

Jack buried both The Oncoming Storm and Bad Wolf together at the Powell Estates. He mingled the remains of Rose and the Doctor in a small metal box. Then he buried the box at the base of the stone monument dedicated to the losses in 2005 – The Battle of Canary Wharf. Jack felt that it was appropriate. These two saved the world by ending the battle. As he laid the box in the hole that he had dug, a solitary tear fell.

Jack returned to the site every year for fifty-three years on the anniversary of the Doctor's death, laying a single rose at the base of the monument.

When he was 490 years old, Jack knew he was dying; accepted and embraced it. He piloted the TARDIS to land next to the Powell Estates and waited. The end came quickly and painlessly. The TARDIS then did for Jack what it she had done for Rose and the Doctor reducing him to his basic elements.

Within 24 hours of the death of Captain Jack Harkness, the TARDIS died. Hope, Little Jack and Roma all knew of her loss through their immature TARDISes that their father had begun growing for them years before. In time, there would be more Time Lords and Ladies repairing time and guarding the universe. However, none would match the strength of one of the greatest Time Lords in History: Theta Sigma of Gallifrey, forever remembered as The Doctor.


End file.
